Castled
"Grisly Manifest" takes place
inside a huge gothic castle clad in blue
and brown brick walls with a murky purple
sky looming overhead. The setting is nice
and original due to the blue scheme used
on the build work and [Kona] 's own distinguishable
"big" build style. The surroundings
look good but are not particulary detailed,
most of the looks come from clever texture
usage and nice use of trim and texture combinations.
The best looking areas are later in the
map when yo enter soom cool looking courtyards
with some nice angled walls. Lighting was
a let down with most of the map looking
a little washed out and some places had
no visible light source although appeared
very bright.
Grisly...
The first thing I must say here is that
"grisly Manifest" is one hell
of a HARD map. Health is a little thin and
big bad and enhanced moinsters come flying
at you (sometimes literally) thick and fast.
Let me explain... The map uses a lot of
custom monsters, all of them are great,
you will face Centroids from mission Pack
1, A custom snakeman monster (also used
in Egyptian Myth) , The simply brilliant
Axemen and some beefed up knights and Hell
knights with new attacks. The Ogres have
been "upgraded" as well and now
leap at you from where-ever they may be,
even if you are above them they will jump
up to where you are! Combat is very hard
with monsters using lots of nails (Even
the Ogres..) which can be very evil if you
get trapped... Un-experienced players may
be put off by the sheer difficulty of this
map...
Manifest a maze
The layout is very good in "Grisly
Manifest" and although the map makes
you belive that it is huge, it actually
is only of a medium size. The super connected
atriums and hallways are to blame with most
areas having more than one floor and multiple
exits / enterances as well. This is all
well and good but can be a little frustrating
if you get lost. On my first place is didn't
get lost because the map does lead you around
very nicely...
The evil Queen
Weapon and item placement is good overall
although the lack of health is quite disturbing
as your never sure when you will see more
of it :) Ammo is quite abundent although
in some areas it seems very thin until you
explore around a little and find some more...
Just watch out for those Axemen if you do
:)
Rumble in the castle
"Grisly manifest" has a suitable
hard ending for a very hard map. Load up
on ammo, bury your fear and wade in :) If
your good you may even survive...
Nice layout and cool new monsters. But
the difficulty WILL put off some people,
I advide to play on a lower skill level
if you don't think your up to it...
Build Quality = 79%
Playability = 78%
Layout and connectivity = 85%
Weapons and Ammo = 80%
Ending = 74%
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